His follower-S, such as avc cuiueive the Apiistle
John to have been, wnnid (hiv .-i-iHrt of His ,||s- course and doctrine l.e c.-muiit n\< and tve.asme.l, id be afterwards faithfully deliveieil as words .jiavavTa (rvv€Tol(nv, although for the moment they may ha\-e soared far above the care or <omprehension of those who first heard them with their outward ears.
Upon a priori gTounds, therefore, bearing in mind the character of the people among whom Christ lived and with whom He had to deal, we should expect to iind the speculative and philosophic side of doctrine but slightly represented, while stress is laid more upon ethics and the practical conduct of life. The supernatural will be stated, as it were, in terms of the natural, the heavenly of the earthly, and with a constant recognition of the actual needs and circumstances and possibil- ities of His hearers. Whether and how far this VOL. 1.-50
is so in fact only an examination of the texts can show. Such an examination of the more or less direct references in the Gospels to a future life will be most conveniently conducted under the three divisions suggested, viz.— (1) a renewed life after death, (2) the permanence of this life, (3) its com- prehensiveness, whether it is to be conceived as embracing the entire race of mankind or limited to a part thereof. It will be necessary to take separately the evidence of the Synoptic Gospels and of St. John.
A. The Synoptists.— (1) With regard to the first point little need be said, for indeed there is nothing in dispute. That the teaching of Christ assumes from first to last a cotiscious life bcyoiul the grave for Himself and His hearers lies upon the surface
His entire rule of life.
The wlidle tdiie df II is speech, the implications of His ]iaial,les, Ui- -aiictidus with which He sur- rounds Ills en.diu.iueiiients and warnings, the comparative \aliie which lie teaches men to set upon heavenly and earthly things, the gravity and seriousness of His outlook into the future, all show that here at least to Him and to His hearers there was common ground ; that He did not need to begin by jnoving to them that death was not the end of' all, but that the universal postulate of religious thought of His day anticipated a renewal of personal and conscious eNisienie after death. In this respect He was but acid|iiii)-, asMiining, and making the basis of inipres-n,. i\li(,iiation anil warning what the majority .it least df His contemporaries believed.
The reiieated references to the coming of the Kingdom of God or of the heavens (Mt 3- 4" 10' 12-», Jlk l'\ l.k 9-' 10'' at.), into which not everyone
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10", Mt 7--"/.); Id Ills d, 26==, Mk'J-'lU"', Lk IS' ^' Son of Man (Mt lO-' lii- those who have confess^ earth will reap as they le fession or denial of iliei the holy angels (Mt In suppose and rest upon tie another life after this. I treasure in heaven (Mt li- of which is clearly not > ' In the regeneration ' 1
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11-1. 1 Ihin.ldi ,idwci- iMl -Ji;-, Ml.. I 1-: ef. Mt 24™, .Mk I:P\ Lk2|-i. ■riic-ldlil.rl, ;lll,l ileath, shall be with Christ in Paradise (l.k 2:;^-). More than one parable bears emphatic witness to the same belief, for example that of the King and the Wedding Peast (Mt 22'ff-), of the Talents (2.y^"-), of the Rich Man and Lazarus (lyk Hi' "' i. Tliese and other ex- lucssi, , lis which nii,L'lil lie ciir.l. li^iir/itive as .some df tlieiii iinddiiliteilly arc, .-iilleiiiitly emphasize thefonii and substance df a Leaulung which is not limited to the present, butalwaj's and consistently presupposes a life of active consciousness bej'ond the grave.
It is doulitful whether es (Mt 2223-33, Mkl: to this. The scope and articles ot the creed that thc.v professed remain very uncertain. And their famous apologue is perhaps rather directed a-^ainst the conception of a joint and common resurrection at one time and place, at which the relationships of this life would be resumed, than implies disbelief in an>' sequel after death to the life lived upon earth. The incident gives occasion at least to a most emphatic assertion on the part of Christ of the reality of the life that succeeds the present, and an equally emphatic repudiation of the idea that those who have died "have cea.'ied to tie—' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living ; for all live unto him.'
(2) The question of the duration of this i
'life.
?86
IMMOKTALITY
IMMOKTALlTV
the permanence or impermanence of the state after death, presents greater dillieulties. Once again it may be said in anticipation that the probabilities of the case are strongly in favour of the former hypothesis. A teacher of the elevation and spiritu- ality of Christ would hardly be likely to su<,^gest to His hearers as a reward for following Him a prolonged existence indeed, but one which closed in the thick darkness of oblivion ; and if He wished to convey the thought that in this respect a sharp distinction prevailed between those who loved and obeyed Him and those who did not, — the former are to be immortal, the latter entirely cease to be. — He would do so vei-y clearly and emphatic- ally, as presenting a further powerful and almost overwhelming incentive to hearken to His words. Moreover, it is to be noted also that the conception of ' endlessness ' in the abstract is not one easily formulated or grasped, and that a doctrine of tliis character, assuming it to be present in His teach- ing, may very well prove to have been set fortli in the simplest terms, rather by way of .suggestion and illustration that would appeal to His hearers, than in the rigorous language of a scheme of meta- physics. The more important terms that bear upon this point are collected and will lie con- veniently examined together at a later stage. A few expressions only from the Synoptic Gospels call here for notice.